The Mysterious Warrior
by JediMasterDarjaak
Summary: An old threat prepares to do away with both Iron Town and the surviving Forest Gods. Ashitaka and San are unable to stop the threat even with Iron Town's help. But from the north comes a warrior unlike any ever seen before. Rating may change later


Disclaimer. I own nothing apart from my own character. All the others are Hayao Miyazaki's.

Chapter 1 

**First signs**

Princess Mononoke ducked just in time as a bloodstained katana sliced at the space she had stood in not a second before. She slashed at the samurai's leg with her foot long knife, and allowed herself a tight smile of satisfaction as the warrior collapsed, a bloody gash up his thigh. She ducked and rammed the knife into the gut of a second warrior who had been sneaking up on her. Behind her, two wolves, her adopted brothers, were slaughtering the samurai patrol that had invaded her forest. As San went to slash the pale exposed throat of her first victim, a dart sailed past and caught her second assailant in the eye, prompting an ear-splitting yell of agony. San whirled around, but there was no one to be seen. She picked up her spear and rammed the flint spearhead through the heart of her attacker, staining the ground beneath him dark crimson. She killed her other attacker, and tugged her spear out of the man's body. Casually she wiped the flint spearhead on her white cloth tabard, as if she'd done nothing more than kill a rabbit.

"Is that all of them? I get a sensation we're being watched."

Her wolf brothers sniffed the air, but there was nothing suspicious on the wind. The larger of the two spoke.

"No, the humans are gone. We'd better go and make sure the rest of the forest is safe."

The two wolves loped off at an easy pace. San donned her white fur cloak and demon mask; touched the crystal dagger that hung around her neck, smiled, and headed for the cave she called home.

Warlord Asano stood on a bare hill some distance from Iron Town. His horde of warriors now totalled 7,000, give or take a few. Recently, he had raided a number of isolated villages in the north. One of them had shown incredible fighting skills, far more advanced than any he'd ever seen before. In order to keep on top of things, he'd killed every single warrior in the village, and had everyone else dragged off to his fortress town to be slaves there for the rest of their lives. He couldn't help but admire how courageous the outnumbered warriors had been. It was expected for a warrior to have no fear of death, but one of these warriors had kept coming for his men with eight javelins embedded in his flesh. Asano shook his head as he relived the battle in his mind.

"Sir?"

He snapped back to reality and looked at his general.

"Make your report. And it had better be a good one."

"It is sir. Not far away we've found a gold mine. It looks abandoned, but there was a lot of gold around. We can hoard money there, then push on into Iron Town's pathetic empire."

Asano looked reflective.

"What's the status around Iron Town now the Forest Spirit is dead?"

"The area is weak, and will crumble like so much dust. The only trouble is the remaining animal gods. Once they're all gone, the town will go down with little trouble."

Asano smiled, and put his hand on his katana.

"Very well. Take five hundred men and bombard the town from the forest. If the animal gods try to hinder you, convince them we're only trying to get rid of Eboshi's accursed settlement of peasants, lepers and prostitutes. Do whatever it takes to secure those iron mines. Do you understand me?"

"I understand and shall obey Lord."

The general saluted and called out for five battalions of a hundred each to follow him. From here, Iron Town was a weeks' walk away. Asano smiled.

"Soon Iron Town, you will be in my grasp."

A warrior aged no older than Ashitaka lay in the river in San's forest. His face was hidden from view by a helmet made of adamantine, and dense armour protected his torso and legs. His arms were only covered to the elbow with adamantine chain mail, and then only tanned hide gloves protected his skin. Curious welts studded his arms like the suckers on an octopus's tentacles, and from his hand emerged four iron claws, two on each hand. A serrated spear was strapped to his back, and several jagged disks hung from a leather strap on his shoulder. Peculiar markings crossed his armour, and scratches showed it wasn't impenetrable. A pipe of sorts was attached to his right arm, and looked like a blowpipe for darts. Slowly he got up, dripping wet. He approached the shore and sat on a rock, where a fire burned. A rabbit was cooking over it, and the smell of cooked meat filled the air. The warrior knelt before his fire and prodded the tender meat. Satisfied it was ready, he took it off the fire and set it on a washed plate of stone. Before he so much as ate a tiny portion, he opened a partition on his helmet and spoke in a raspy, guttural, yet still teenage voice.

"To the Creator who gave us life; to the Preserver who sustains us; to the Deceiver who teaches us; to the Warrior who trains us; to the Fire Death God who brings our lives to an end, I offer gratitude for what I have been granted and what I shall receive. May your glory never perish."

Lacking any kind of eating utensils, the warrior unsheathed a mithril dagger and cut a portion of the meat off. Slowly, as if expecting poison, he sampled the food, and seemed surprised at the taste, as if rabbit meat was new to him. He carried on eating, only stopping once to drink from the river. As he ate, his brows creased in fury. Everything he'd lived for was gone. He had no intention of living longer than necessary. All he desired was a bloody revenge on the one responsible for his pain. Boiling hot fury engulfed his very heart, and he clenched his fists tightly. As the evening fell over the riverside, he doused the fire and left the rabbit skin and bones on the rock, as an offering to his Creator god. He headed for a cave in the sides of the gorge and bedded down, fully dressed. Tomorrow, his hunt would begin in earnest.

San walked into her cave, tired and unsuspecting. She didn't notice the second occupant until she was already on the floor. Her hand flew to her dagger, but then she felt a reason to relax. Ashitaka smiled up into her face as he rolled over, leaving her on top of him.

"Really San, that was beyond easy. What if I'd been a samurai?"

Before he could blink, San's dagger was touching his neck. She gave a light smile.

"Then I wouldn't be smiling right now, and your blood would be gushing against the wall as I slit your neck."

She smiled more broadly and sheathed the dagger. She leant in closer to her loved one.

"But since you're not, I suppose I have no choice but to take the second option."

Ashitaka ran a hand through her short hair. She smelt of the very forest itself, which he found intoxicating. She leant down to him, and her lips touched his in a very brief, yet loving kiss. Ashitaka kissed her back, smiling. San was never one to engage in passionate displays of affection, but it was undeniable that the two loved one another. After two years of refining their relationship, they were finally at a point where San was semi-human in her actions, but getting her to human habitation was another story altogether. She had only done so once, which had been for a festival thrown in her honour. She had mistakenly got drunk on over twenty beakers of sake, and had not only won a drinking contest, but had been incredibly hung over for two days. Before being drunk, a wandering artist, who had also attended Iron Town's festival, had drawn San and Ashitaka stood together. Ashitaka kept the picture in his home in Iron Town. It served as a constant reminder about his beloved. Now aged 20, he was considering settling down with San more permanently. San moved from above him and helped him sit up. Suddenly her hand flew to her spear as she heard human voices. Ashitaka had his hand already on his sword. San walked to the entrance, spear and dagger at hand when the world went black.

Please review and let me know if you think I should continue with this one


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